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The current Ward 2 councillor made the comment Tuesday night at a debate held at the Hamilton Convention Centre.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger has been in the driver’s seat in getting funding from the province for a line between McMaster University and Eastgate Square. But Bratina believes the city should look at another line given city council’s recent approval of developing a huge tract of employment lands around the airport.

“Transit and transit plans should be in harmony with land use,” he said. “We should be really looking at connecting the LRT from the airport to the downtown.”

He noted the employment land scheme is proposed to create new jobs in the city and Hamilton needs transit to get workers there without them spending 90 minutes on buses.

About 150 people attended the debate, which was sponsored by three business groups, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, the Hamilton-Halton Home Builders’ Association and the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington.

Eisenberger did not address Bratina’s idea, but said he is working hard on the issue and welcomed chamber president Richard Koroscil joining the Metrolinx board, which oversees transit in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area. He said he has met with Premier Dalton McGuinty and various cabinet ministers to discuss the LRT plan and the project is supported by local Liberal MPPs Sophia Aggelonitis and Ted McMeekin.

“We now have to go the next step,” he said.

Former mayor Larry Di Ianni, who was defeated by Eisenberger in the 2006 election, said he supported LRT, but did not believe the city was pushing the province enough to obtain funding for the project.

“This is a competitive process, planning process,” said Di Ianni. “We can’t afford to sit back. We need to be proactive, not reactive.”

He believes “the decision makers” in Toronto already have lost confidence in the city in the wake of the Pan Am stadium debacle. Council supported a west harbour site in the face of opposition from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. A site at Longwood Road and Aberdeen Avenue is now being looked at for the stadium and the Pan Am host corporation has had to approve several deadline extensions for the project.

“Unfortunately, the stadium decision, which was fumbled, does not impress the people in Toronto,” said Di Ianni.